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Juvenile killer's sentence weighed by Jefferson Parish judge in light of new law

Arnold-Ross-mug.jpg

Arnold Ross, pictured above at age 17, was convicted in June of second-degree murder and sexual battery involving an 8-month-old boy. Judge Michael Mentz of the 24th Judicial District Court will sentence Ross on Sept. 16, he said Thursday after conducting the first sentencing hearing of its type under a new state law.
(JPSO)

In what likely was the first hearing of its type under a new Louisiana law that took effect six weeks ago, a state judge in Jefferson Parish heard testimony Thursday in considering how to punish a defendant who was 17 years old when he killed an infant. Arnold Ross of Terrytown was convicted this summer of second-degree murder, which ordinarily carries a mandatory life sentence without parole in Louisiana. But under a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court decision, Miller vs. Alabama, and the Louisiana Legislature's response to the decision, defendants who kill before their 18th birthday now are given opportunity to argue why they should not spend life in prison.

The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision banned such sentences for youths as cruel and unusual punishment forbidden by the Constitution's Eighth Amendment. Louisiana's new law took effect Aug. 1. It requires that juvenile killers be allowed to argue for parole eligiblity, as 24th Judicial District Judge Michael Mentz noted Thursday in opening Ross' sentencing hearing.

Lawyers are calling these "Miller hearings," during which defense attorneys present "mitigating" testimony and evidence that would support parole eligibility. Prosecutors provide "aggravating" evidence tending to support life in prison without parole.

Ross, now 21, killed 8-month-old Da-Von Lonzo inside his mother's Gary Court apartment in 2009. He was convicted in June of second-degree murder and sexual battery, the latter for wrapping three fingers in a towel and inserting them inside the child's anus in an apparent attempt to stop the baby's incessant defecation. Ross faces 25 to 99 years in prison for sexual battery.

Da-Von's mother, Damyra Lonzo, who reportedly pursued a sexual relationship with the Ross, left her child with him so she could go to work, despite previous warnings from Ross' family that he was not mentally equipped to care for the baby, according to testimony.

The infant was beaten so severely that all but two of his ribs were broken. His skull had at least three fractures, and his anus was torn at least four times, according to testimony. Neighbors in an adjacent apartment testified they heard thumps for several minutes against the common wall that separated their units, suggesting Ross repeatedly struck Da-Von against the drywall.

The prosecutor, Clif Milner, on Thursday presented no evidence that would support harsh treatment of Ross. Instead, he asked Mentz to consider the trial evidence, particularly the testimony of the pathologist who conducted the autopsy and the neighbors who heard the thumping.

Ross's attorney, Letita Parker-Davis, put on testimony of Ross's mother, stepfather, sister and a forensic psychiatrist. She provided a 10-inch stack of medical and educational records that detail Ross's years as a special education student, treatment for depression, drug abuse and abandonment by his biological father.

"He never progressed academically, really, past a third or fourth-grade level," forensic psychiatrist Sarah DeLand testified. She said he was diagnosed "with various types of mood disorders" while confined at two juvenile detention facilities between 2004 and 2009. She did not say why Ross was incarcerated.

Ross, his relatives testified, has expressed remorse to them, beginning the day he was arrested in Da-Von's death. "He just kept saying how sorry he was, and he didn't mean to do it," said his mother, Nedra Argullard.

Mentz said he will announce Ross's sentence Sept. 16. He asked the attorneys for memoranda to support their arguments.

Milner said nothing about his plans. Parker-Davis, however, said after the hearing that she will ask Mentz to sentence Ross to a set number of years, although she did not provide a number. During Ross' trial, she told the jury that, at most, Ross was guilty of manslaughter, a lesser grade of homicide punishable by no more than 40 years in prison.

Under Louisiana's law, Ross may still be sentenced to life without parole. Even before the new law was enacted, another Jefferson Parish judge sentenced a Kenner teenager to life without parole for killing a man in River Ridge, taking into account the high court's ruling in Miller vs. Alabama. A sentencing hearing in that case was held, but the defense attorney asked only for light treatment.

Milner, who prosecuted Ross, said Thursday's was "the first true Miller hearing." Parker-Davis said they could not find another instance in which Louisiana's new law has been applied to a case.

The Louisiana law says that juvenile killers may be eligible for parole after serving 35 years in prison, provided certain criteria are met.

What's clear is that defendants such as Ross, who was convicted after June 2012, get the benefit from Miller vs. Alabama. Prosecutors say the decision should not be retroactively applied to the older cases.

Darryl Tate, a New Orleans lifer whose case was argued Wednesday before the state Supreme Court, said in court documents he should be eligible for parole. He was 17 on April 1, 1981, when he shot and killed Anthony Jeffery, 33, of New Orleans during a robbery in Central City. Prosecutors said in court Wednesday he got only 40 cents in the robbery, although a 1981 story in The Times-Picayune on the arrest had police saying he got $1.40.